The Ultimate Mountain House Freeze Dried Meal Review

It's true, a person can live on cheese, tortillas, and candy in the wilderness for weeks at a time; I'm living proof of this. Sadly, as incredible as the cheese/tortilla/candy diet can be, it leaves something to be desired – namely, food (or at least what my dad would call food).

In the world of backpacking, the lowest rungs of the meal ladder are populated with instant noodles and dehydrated mashed potatoes. The highest rungs? Fresh fruit, that Subway sandwich you packed out of town, and individually packaged freeze-dried meals. The most well-known company engaged in the hawking of bags filled with freeze-dried goodness (at least in the US)? Mountain House.

Mountain House meals are delicious. So delicious that I would not hesitate to eat them off the trail as well. If I could eat a Mountain House for every meal when hiking, I would be a very happy hiker. However, I would also be a very poor hiker. The worst thing about Mountain House? How expensive they are relative to that bottom rung of the ladder – five noodle packs for $1!? Who can compete with that?

If you're dedicated to saving some cash and want to maximize your Mountain House meals, you can get some of the #10 cans (like this) and portion out your meals ahead of time (and if you end up with extra, send it my way). But if you're at the local outfitter and need to make a game-time decision, then hopefully this post can help to guide you.

One word of warning about Mountain House: if the price looks too good to be true, you should check the package and make sure you're not looking at a one serving variety. Don't expect to feed yourself with one of these unless you're a small child.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary samples of these product for feedback purposes, but I was under no obligation to write a review. This page contains affiliate links which means at no additional cost to you, I may receive small commissions for purchases made via these links. This helps keep the site up and running – thank you for your support!